Hawai`i Legal History: Cases

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Kamehameha III (1814-1854) promulgated Hawaii's first constitution in 1840, which established the first chief judge of the Supreme Court, a position Kamehameha III then filled. He decided on a new land division in 1848, which became known as the Great Mahele.

Ka Huli Ao was established in 2005 at the Law School through a Native Hawaiian Education Act grant. In collaboration with the Hawai‘i State Archives, Ka Huli Ao amassed a collection of approximately three hundred thousand images of historic documents ranging from the Kingdom of Hawai‘i's original Constitution to the journals of the proceedings of the House of Nobles.

Please Note: The archives of Ka Huli Ao are not in the Law Library. Ka Huli Ao maintains its own physical and virtual spaces.

Intermediate Court of Appeals (Haw. Ct. App.): Cite to P.2d or P.3d, if therein.(May 6, 1980-date) Note: The Intermediate Court of Appeals (sometimes abbreviated I.C.A.) began May 6, 1980. For the next 14 years this court had its own reporter, Hawaiʻi Appellate Reports (Haw. App.). On Sept. 19, 1994, the Intermediate Court of Appeals began reporting all of its decisions in West's Hawaiʻi Reports and the Pacific Reporter.

Note: The Bluebook, Table 1.3 for Hawaiʻi does not take into consideration the historical materials prior to statehood in 1959. Local courts, however, prefer to use the various historical governments in their citations to cases during those times. Given that numerous researchers and writers continue to use documents from pre-statehood, the Hawaiian jurisdiction needs substantial revision before the next edition of The Bluebook is published. Also, the statutory compilation by West did not include “Ann.” in its abbreviation, which seemed to be not in keeping with other unofficial codes in other jurisdictions and was most likely an oversight by the Editors of the 19th edition of The Bluebook. – Roberta F. Woods, J.D., Reference & Instructional Services Librarian, William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Sept. 14, 2012.